A Kerala-based agribusiness startup has launched an end-to-end supply chain platform that connects banana cultivators, traders, and exporters.
Greenikk, a start-up, has built enablement centres (EC) in the major banana producing agricultural belts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka to provide farmers with production and marketing support.
“These ECs will provide the farmers with required supports such as finance, seeds, crop advisory, insurance coverage, agri inputs, including weather tips, and market connect, covering the entire gamut of production and marketing both inside the country and outside,” it said.
“Similar ECs are planned in other south Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and further scaling across the whole of India,” the start-up said.
Measure will help farmers
According to the release, the platform will also assist farmers in better utilising organic waste left over after harvesting as manure and poultry feed.
Such measures would help farmers earn more money while also reducing air pollution caused by the burning of post-harvest waste, according to the report.
Greenikk was co-founded by Fariq Naushad and Previn Jacob, two young IT professionals who chose banana as the fruit for their initiative because they believed it had the greatest potential for increased exports if linked to a strong and reliable value chain, according to the release.
According to the release, India accounts for roughly 25% of global banana production, and the country’s banana exports have increased eightfold in the last nine years.
“The National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB) has reported that India produced 32.6 million tonnes of bananas in 2020 with a land area of 9.6 lakh hectares under cultivation,” the release said.
Stating that there are more than 10 million stakeholders, the start-up founders said the domestic market size is pegged at around USD 18 billion.
“What we are looking at is to place Indian banana on a strong supply chain with global reach, which will ultimately benefit our farmers,” the Greenikk founders were quoted as having said in the release.
